Hellooooo Outlaw and my friends at the Jagar squadron.
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..I am sorry for jumping in on the debate, but its one that is very important to try to understand and resolve as a nation. There is a lot to unpack after I read your point of view in the freedom, the second amendment and government / politics. First out of the bat I hate politicians it is very hard to trust or believe in people that sell their moral values and the trust of the people they represent to the money that big corporations throw their way. I speak as a US citizen that lives in the oldest colony in the world, which has no right to vote for the president or congress that rules over our island. Talk the talk of democracy and freedom but don’t walk the walk when it comes to acknowledging that having still a colony under US domain is a bit of contradictory or hypocritical. Maybe we should dump some tea in the bay…. but the thing is that most of the citizens of the island favor statehood, but congress does nothing to resolve the problem.
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..That perspective of seeing that The United States of America has the oldest colony in the world still under its control, takes me to the freedom thing that the forefathers wanted to give to all its US citizens, equality for all…they said. Well to the African American it was not granted, so freedom was and still is not equal for everyone as intended, because it was not executed in an equal manner by our forefathers. The constitution is the law of the land, but out of the bat it was not granted to everyone. This shows that those forefathers that some see as all wise and God like, were just men with their own interest and agendas. They did try to do the best they could as all politicians say they do. But we have what we have, and we believe it was written in good faith although it was not executed as such. But nothing is perfect. Land was stolen, lives were lost, abuses, slavery, violence, racism were all part of what forge this nation. Great thigs and great Americans have made it shine but like every country it has it dark stories; and with time the problems and challenges continue to evolve.
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You are right in your statement Outlaw that the colonies were establish in the base of freedom. Without one man ruling the nation. But soon they found out that it was not working for them, and those God-like forefathers decided to sit down and write a constitution or laws of the land and also appoint a ruler of the nation. So that freedom that the colonies were seeking at first went through a bit of a filter and it became the constitution. Great piece of paper done with the best of intentions to give the best freedom possible to all of us and to try to unify the laws…. but as I have stated before, that was not the case for everyone.
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Many countries have similar level of freedom and sadly many do not. Democracy helps to ensure and give the power to the people to elect its government. When dictators, kings and monarchs rule the land you have no horizon as to expect a change for your country. Only way is to overthrow the government and some one will rise to power….and that someone that overthrows a government by force…will he step down and bring democracy or elections to the people when he did not respect it? History of many countries can answer that question. Democracy and its freedom were established by our forefathers when they wrote the constitution. To have each colony dictate their own freedom became a challenge and that experiment did not work. The constitution and democracy were born to ensure freedom and the union of the nation. Not what they had in mind at first, but it was them who went that rout, trusting that the president and congress would have the best interest of the people.
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.The constitution was written in a different era or times, we have seen it is not perfect and that they did a poor job on making it valid to all its citizens. Many of the laws in it are good and like I stated I believe were writing in good faith. The second amendment is quite unique, and I understand the thinking behind it, and I respect it. But I am sure that when it was included in the constitution it was not in their minds that we should own a machine gun, grenades, or bazookas. One could think they envision the use of weapons for hunting and protection. But do we need a machine gun to hunt animals or to protect or home? I personally believe its overdoing it and opening the door to the misuse of this types of weapons.
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.. I believe in the right to have arms, but I see there is no control in the way those arms are distributed or sold. There should be a mental, and criminal evaluation done to gun owners before they get a gun and after they have it. This to try and ensure and minimize the risk of having a person with mental problems or issues owning or buying a weapon. Here in the island, we are covered by the second amendment, but it was established that to get a weapon you should present evidence of your mental state and the police conducts and investigation with your neighbors, family, and record before they grant you a license to own weapon. This process takes time, and it may discourage a person with bad intentions to commit a crime. It is not a solution that will stop crime or mass shootings, but it helps to bring them down. Can’t believe that if the NRA is such a prestigious institution would be opposed to know if the people there are selling their weapons are fit now and, in the future, to own a firearm. Or is just another company or organization like the tabaco industry that says…its their problem if they smoke and die, not mine.
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. I get from were Pegoud is coming from when he engages in this topic, because like me he is a teacher, and the gun violence has come into our classrooms and it’s not fair that my innocent children must die by the bullets of a crazy person. Its not the gun that kills, it’s the crazy person…. nop it’s the gun that kills the crazy person is the one using the gun, if he had no gun, he would just be crazy.
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..I don’t advocate for taking guns aways from responsible users or eliminate the second amendment I believe guns should not be giving to people who are not fit to have them and that machine guns should not be out there for the public. Guns don’t come to the US and to our island from some third world country…they are put out there on sale by the criminals. How they get them? stolen from legit buyers and then they erase the serial numbers so they can sell them in the black market. Can a nut buy a gun in the back market…sure he can but its not as easy as to enter a Walmart and buying it from a clerk? I’m sure that the monster that kill all those children in Texas would have not been able to get it in the black market. There should be better regulation on who get to own a gun to try and minimize the threats. Not perfect but what we got now is not protecting our children.
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. You are right Outlaw in saying that mass shootings in schools and other places have been going on for decades. Did a bit of research on it and the earliest known United States shooting to happen on school property was the Pontiac's Rebellion school massacre on July 26, 1764, where four Lenape Native American entered the schoolhouse near present-day Greencastle, Pennsylvania, shot and killed schoolmaster Enoch Brown, and killed nine or ten children (reports vary). Only two children survived.
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.After that year you can read the countless shootings that occurred in school settings in every decade. They are all very detailed and sad to read. I did read them all and they are a lot but once you read them you see a pattern in the type of weapon and deaths. Most of them were done by had guns with limited bullets and the casualties were less. Most shootings were directed at teachers or employees and yes, the more painful were done to children. Also, many of the incidents were done buy minors that brought a hand weapon from their parents to school. Few incidents stand out more than others and it is in the last years that we have seen the increase of casualties in children at school with the use of machine guns. A pistol can kill so many a machine gun can cause more death.
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.I have been asked by my uncle many times to move to the states to teach, he tells me the pay is better and school facilities and teaching materials are amazing. But honestly, I am afraid of teaching in the mainland states….and I live in an island where the crime rate is extremely high, but here crime is related to drugs and organize crime we never seen a mental person go inside our schools and start killing innocent children. Yes, we live in a different world where I have to teach our children to hide under the chairs because there is shooting outside, but I do not want to experience the anguish of running to protect my kids with my body because some nut came inside my class room with a machine gun to kill them all, that I could not bear because I know I will not be able to protect them against such a horror. Pegoud I understand your worries, frustration, and impotence against what our children are suffering. No one is stepping up and talking about solutions to try and minimize this epidemic. We can’t normalize the killing of innocent children by comparing it with car accidents, or other types of death; those are accidents…killing children and innocent people is no accident it is murder.
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.Did a bit of research on the Trump no mass shooting during his term…because you know what? I was not sure…I said yes there were but since it has become such a normal occurrence; like you Outlaw, I thought maybe there were non. But my first instinct was right and the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history took place during the Trump era. In October 2017, a gunman shot and killed nearly 60 people at a music festival in Las Vegas. While not an exhaustive list of every mass shooting that took place during the Trump administration, here are some of the deadliest incidents while Trump was in office:
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. In November 2017, 26 people were killed at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.
.In February 2018, 17 people were killed at a high school in Parkland, Florida.
.In May 2018, 10 people were killed at a high school in Santa Fe, Texas.
.In October 2018, 11 people were killed at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
.In November 2018, 12 people were killed at a restaurant in Thousand Oaks, California.
.In May 2019, 12 people were shot and killed at an office building in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
.In August 2019, 22 people were killed at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas.
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.Trump, of course, was not the first president to see a mass shooting take place during his time in office. The Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newton, Connecticut (27 victims), the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida (49 victims), and the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado (12 victims) all took place during former Democratic President Barack Obama’s term.
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.This is a problem, and we just cannot keep ignoring it and learning to live with it, something is clearly wrong, and we all know it. Mental issues and guns do not mix, they are a deadly combo, what would you say if your neighbor from years suddenly becomes depressed and un-rational and you just do not know it or don’t care we each live in our own little caves. But without explanation he takes his machine gun and aim it out his window to your back yard were you and your children are celebrating a party and he just starts shooting at all of you. Your son is shoot in the face you rush to him and turn him around and he has no face instead a big hole and the beautiful smiling face of your child is gone and, in your memory, will live forever the blood and the hole made in his face by a machine gun. Part of your family gets killed in the same graphic and bloody manner and some survive. You must bury your son with the coffin closed because he has no more smile, no more expression because his face was torn apart by this monster that you thought was an ok normal person. What would you do? Will you see things different from now own? It is not easy to be on the other end of the gun. Not fair to let innocent die when things can be prevented.
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. There is no will too do anything. When I heard those children from kinder garden were shoot and killed and our politicians did nothing, that is when I knew that all the other shootings that would follow would be just the same. Its just a thing that we must learn to live with, it is normal. It is not normal…and it is sad that the greatest country in the world can’t get together and find a solution. We are so great at helping and protecting other countries but not so much at protecting our citizens, what a shame…Maybe our forefathers might have the will to take on the problem and seek a solution for the good of the country. But hey they are in the past now this is our problem now and we must show the will to tackle this horrible problem and make a change.
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